By Giulio D'Ercole
An Honorable Mention Photo.
Last December this photo of mine was awarded the Honorable mention by the photography group Immagini d'Autore (photos in Black and White). The Facebook group was funded by Professional Paolo Croci in January 2014, and along these last six years it has grown to 1,471 members, including photographers at all levels, from beginners to professionals, united in the love and passion for Black and White Photography. After only few months from my subscription to the group, in 2018, thanks to the constructive feedback I always had the pleasure to share concerning the photos posted by other members, I was asked to become one of the four administrators of Immagini d'Autore.
The Art of Candid Portraits
I took the photo here below during a beautiful walk in charming Montmartre in Paris, as I was strolling around together with my wife and my daughter, looking for interesting faces, compelling scenes and intriguing "Tranches de Vie" (moments of life).
Through the crowd, I saw this old man, sitting at a table outside a typical Parisian bistrot. While all other tables were taken by joyful families and couples, the old man was there just by himself, sipping his wine.
About ten meters away, among the myriad of people passing by, right there, right then, I had the archetype, the epitome of a Breton sailor, a man with a rugged, wrinkled face, marked by time, and salt.
I did not hesitate and I brought my Nikon D850 to the eye, on which I had mounted a not stabilized 70-200 mm. Maybe chance, maybe synchronicity, or perhaps my guardian angel of photography, wanted the man to look at me in that very precise moment ..... and I shot. The rest is history :-)
Good Photos are like Marcel Proust's Madeleine
Some people, some intellectuals, some art critics say that a Photo is freezing a moment in time, and by doing it they transform that moment in a dead still object. Even though I understand their reasoning and I even can see the point they want to make, to me Photography is capturing life, giving it a place that goes beyond time, making it eternal for all those who can feel that moment and retrieve emotions from it. In my own philosophy, good photos are all like little Marcel Proust' Madeleines, actual triggers of infinite memories and emotions, able to move all sorts of memories and create new ones.
Come to learn the Art of Street Photography If you are interested in understanding what Street Photography means, what it can give you, enriching your life and the way you have to look at the world around you, if you want to learn the technique needed to capture life as it happens, while exploring the most characteristic and lively markets, streets and squares of Rome, come to Eternal City and book one or more Rome by Day Street Photography Tours and Workshops with me. You will realize that you can find beauty and charm behind every corner.... it's only up to you to see it.
